Armed opposition forces battle regime troops near key city of Hama

Armed opposition forces battled army troops on Tuesday as they advanced toward the city of Hama in central Syria, a war monitor said.

“Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (HTS) and its allies fought some of the “most violent” clashes with troops in the area since launching a lightning offensive last week, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

Since they launched their offensive last week, they have snatched swathes of territory from the Syrian government, including second city Aleppo.

“Clashes have erupted in the northern Hama countryside, where [opposition] factions managed to seize several cities and towns in the last few hours,” said the Britain-based monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria.

“Syrian and Russian air forces carried out dozens of strikes on the area,” it added.

Zaman al-Wasl sources said that heads and members of all security services in the city of Hama have been withdrawing towards the city of Al-Suqaylabiyah, west of the province, after the revolutionary factions advanced to the outskirts of the city,

Russia first intervened directly in Syria's war in 2015 with strikes on opposition-held area, and has pledged continued support for President Bashar al-Assad since the latest flare-up started.

Hama is a strategic city linking Aleppo to the capital Damascus.

An AFP journalist in the northern Hama countryside saw dozens of Syrian army tanks and military vehicles abandoned by the side of the road leading to Hama.

“We want to advance on Hama after combing” towns that have been captured, a fighter who identified himself as Abu al-Huda al-Sourani told AFP.

The province's western countryside is home to the Alawite community from which Bashar al-Assad hails.

The UN says nearly 50,000 people have been displaced by the fighting that has killed hundreds, mostly fighters, since the end of November.

Syria has been at war since al-Assad cracked down on democracy protests in 2011.